It's always hard to get an active player to talk about how he will be remembered, but Jamison seems to have given the subject some thought. At the end of our time together in El Segundo, I asked him about how a championship might change the way people think about him. Gasol, Howard, and Kobe were shooting free throws nearby and Jamison turned his head and looked over at his new teammates. "If I win a championship, I'll be put in a different category," he said. "I know where I am with the totals, the averages, the scoring list or whatever. But I didn't win in high school. I didn't win in college. To have such a roller coaster career in the pros and to be a professional night-in and night-out and to know I put in the work and did all those things I needed to do to be successful, man … " And here, the composed, intelligent veneer with which Jamison conducts his media responsibilities broke down for a second. He smiled broadly, looked up at the rafters, and said, "Man, I deserve it. I want one bad. I envision it all. I envision holding that trophy up, I envision going to that parade, I envision getting that ring. It's the only thing that keeps me motivated, having my name associated with a champion. I just deserve it."

sooooo maybe take that hunger and put it towards doing something like putting the ball in the basket.

hes been a zero the entire preseason...like we dont even know he played zero. i seriously seriously hope its bc its the preseason and hes just looking to learn the offense and not bc he can't.

our bench needs him badly and i know mike brown prob hasnt done anything to help him get looks with the 2nd unit but hes gotta do something. hes our 6th man and thats a huge responsibility. hes gotta do something quick too, show us something, a flash of something so we know he can but isnt bc its the preseason.

therealdeal wrote:The weird part is that he's seriously been so timid. He hasn't done anything and... he hasn't tried anything.

Why isn't he trying to do more?

I think he's trying to figure out where he fits with the team and feeling out his teammates. It's going to take a little bit of time. I wish he would be the focal point with the 2nd unit, but it doesn't seem like he's wanting to push that right now and Brown simply won't do that.

I also think he's guilty what a lot of seasoned veterans are guilty of and that's mailing it in during the pre-season. I don't expect him to magically flip a switch in a week's time but he knows how to pace himself and be ready during the parts of the season/post-season he'll be needed the most. As long as he's getting his conditioning and cobwebs taken of during pre-season, even if we aren't seeing the results in-game, then I'm content.

Before getting on him about performance I plan on waiting until at least after the Mavs game.

Only dilemna with this is that I don't think Jamison will ever play close to 33 mpg with this Lakers squad in the regular season now coming off the bench.

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One of the reasons I liked the Antawn Jamison signing rather than pursuing a Rashard Lewis, was that Jamison is very versatile. He can shoot AND put the ball on the floor. He can post-up too if needed.

Lewis was mostly a spot-up shooter, while Jamison can do that, plus his forte is slashing to the basket.

But lately the Lakers coaches are giving him looks as just a spot-up shooter, as if we had signed someone like Lewis.

If someone can put a tape together of how Jamison's been playing with the Lakers so far, you'll see that 97% of his shots are all catch and shoot 20-25 foot jumpers!

Like I said earlier, they're turning a versatile scorer into a 1-dimension spot-up shooter.

Question:

So far, we still haven't seen Jamison as a Laker do some of the things he's done before throughout his career:

I swear I think I've only seen him attempt his trademark (and wierd looking) runner/floater probably just once as a Laker. Jamison is a slasher, and he needs that as part of his game. They're not running a lot of plays or giving him a lot of options to drive and cut to the basket.

Optimistically I'm hoping it's temporary because the coaches just want Jamison to help out his teammates initiate the Princeton.

Idk about you guys. But some of the players just look disinterested in the pre-season. That's not necessarily a good thing, but guys like Nash, Pau, Jamison just don't look to be trying very hard at all in this pre season.

Jamison was simply trying to move the ball and get the young guys involved IMO (and/or he's trying to become more familiar with the new offense). When the time comes, he'll shoot the ball. He was shooting the ball every year he's been in the league. Why would that change now? He likes to shoot.

"It's not realistic to get younger and better when you only have the veteran's minimum to offer free agents."

Im starting to change my opinion on where he should be playing...I think he needs to play the 4 and Ebanks is playing too well to not get minutes. Id put either Sacre/Hill or Pau as the 2nd unit Center, run Jamison, Ebanks, Meeks and whatever PG. Right now we need Jamison more than Sacre or Hill, Id try to put him in position where hes the most effective. 2 games in a row hes just floating in the perimeter and passing it off.

fksteveblake wrote:we're just scared cuz of all the other serviceable players that come to the lakers and decide to suck

Like who? Which players were serviceable when they came to the Lakers and started to suck?

Steve Blake

Blake has been mediocre his entire career outside of one good season with Portland. He was far from serviceable. For his career he has only averaged 6.9 points on 40 percent shooting. He has never really been anything more than a backup point guard.

fksteveblake wrote:we're just scared cuz of all the other serviceable players that come to the lakers and decide to suck

Like who? Which players were serviceable when they came to the Lakers and started to suck?

Steve Blake

Blake has been mediocre his entire career outside of one good season with Portland. He was far from serviceable. For his career he has only averaged 6.9 points on 40 percent shooting. He has never really been anything more than a backup point guard.

He always lit us up. ALWAYS. So we had the impression he'd be good. His last game before he became a Laker, he dropped a triple double on us.

Here are his numbers vs Lakers for his career

21 games, 27mins/gm, 10.6 points, 44% FG, 49% 3s, 5 assists.

His 2nd highest point average is 8.4 points and its vs Phoenix.

He scores 2 full points more vs Lakers than he does vs any other team in the league and he shoots the lights out.